Modular lighting system for retrofit to a welding shield

ABSTRACT

A lighting system retrofitted to a stock helmet with an interiorly fastened headband and a welding shield rotably mounted thereto includes a first light source mounted on an exterior surface of the welding shield, the welding shield adjustable to positions above and below the headband, a second light source mounted to the headband, a power source, a magnetic positional switching facility mounted on the exterior of the headband having electrical connection to the power source and the first and second light sources, a first positional sensor, and a second positional sensor, the first and second positional sensors mounted on the interior surface of the welding shield along an arcurate path defining the angular range of rotation of the welding shield relative to the magnetic positional switching facility.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED DOCUMENTS

The present invention is a Divisional application from U.S. applicationSer. No. 12/925,832, filed Oct. 30, 2010 and claims priority to a U.S.provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/280,382 entitled SAFETYHELMET WITH LIGHTING SYSTEM filed on Nov. 3, 2009 now U.S. Pat. No.8,721,103, disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety atleast by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is in the field of safety gear including workplaceutility helmets and pertains particularly to methods and apparatus torretrofitting a stock welding helmet with a welding shield with acontrollable lighting system that may be operated in automated fashionor manually.

2. Discussion of the State of the Art

In many industries like manufacturing and construction, welding is acommon practice. Welders wear welding helmets, sometimes referred to aswelding shields or face shields, during the course of their work.Generally speaking, a welding shield is constructed to pivot about theworkers head and typically has two positions. One position is with theshield down during actual welding to protect the workers eyes and facefrom extreme light from the welding arc and from any debris that couldbe dislodged during the process. Periodically, the worker must raise theshield so the worker can see the workspace for weld preparation,cleaning, and other tasks performed during the course of welding.

One challenge with welding using so-called welding helmets or shields,is that many workspaces where welding occurs are not sufficientlyilluminated. Therefore, extra work must be undertaken to set-up lightingfor these areas. The shield lens of a welding shield is typicallycolored or darkened like sunglasses in order to protect a worker's eyefrom extreme light flashing that occurs during the process of active arcwelding. These lenses are to dark for the user to see the workspacewithout the light from active welding contributing to errors in theprocess resulting in poor quality. Self-darkening lenses for weldingshields are available that darken only when extreme light is present.However, insufficient lighting still contributes to workspace errorsduring welding when the shield is lowered and when the shield is raised.

Therefore, what is clearly needed is a lighting system that may beretrofitted to a stock utility helmet with a welding shield and that maybe operated to illuminate the workspace in a focused manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A lighting system is provided and retrofitted to a stock helmet with aninteriorly fastened headband and a welding shield rotably mountedthereto. The lighting system includes a first light source mounted on anexterior surface of the welding shield, the welding shield adjustable topositions above and below the headband, a second light source mounted tothe headband, a power source, a magnetic positional switching facilitymounted on the exterior of the headband having electrical connection tothe power source and the first and second light sources, a firstpositional sensor, and a second positional sensor, the first and secondpositional sensors mounted on the interior surface of the welding shieldalong an arcurate path defining the angular range of rotation of thewelding shield relative to the magnetic positional switching facility.

The act of rotating the welding shield enables the first lighting sourceto power on via eventual alignment with the first positional sensor andthe magnetic positional switching facility when the shield is in alowered position and the second lighting source to power on via eventualalignment with the second positional sensor and the magnetic positionalswitching facility when the shield is in a raised position.

In one embodiment the welding shield further includes a welding shieldlens, the first lighting source mounted adjacent to the lens. In oneembodiment the first and or second light sources are detachable fromtheir bases for use as hand-held or other device-mounted light sources.In one embodiment the first and second light sources are high-poweredlight emitting diodes (LEDs). In one embodiment the first and secondlight sources and the two positional sensors are removably attached tothe stock welding shield.

In one embodiment the power source is a solar-powered charging systemfor charging a battery or batteries to power the light sources. In oneembodiment the light sources are different in both color and orintensity. In a variation of this embodiment the first light source is abright white light and the second light source is a softer yellow light.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a welding shield 60 according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the shield of FIG. 1 with a shield lensopen revealing a second transparent lens.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the shield of FIG. 1 illustrating a manuallighting system control switch with an off and an auto setting.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a headband lighting system leveraging amagnetic reed switch for powering on a mounted light source according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a headband lighting system leveraging abattery and having a connector to a shield lighting system.

FIG. 6 is a cable lighting system for retrofitting to a welding shieldaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cable lighting system for retrofitting to a welding shieldheadband according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the welding shield of FIG. 1 adapted with apositional switching system, the shield raised to power on the headbandlight source.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the welding shield of FIG. 1 adapted with apositional switching system, the shield lowered to power on the weldingshield light source.

FIG. 10 is a circuitry diagram illustrating a manual lighting controlcircuit with an automatic positional sensing switch setting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventor provides a unique welding shield with integrated lightingand lighting control system. The present invention will be described inenabling detail using the following examples, which may describe morethan one relevant embodiment falling within the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a welding shield 60 according to anembodiment of the present invention. Welding shield 60 may also bereferred to herein as a face shield or helmet-face shield withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The termwelding shield is a well-known industry term for a welding helmet.

In this example, shield 60 includes a welding shield lens 61 attached toshield 60 by way of one or more hinges 65. Shield lens 61 may be anauto-darkening lens, a shaded lens, or a transparent protective viewinglens without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. Shield lens 61 is in the closed position. Lens 61 includesuser operable tabs 66 to facilitate easy opening of the lens.

Welding shield 60 is pivotally mounted to an adjustable headband 64 byfrictional locking knobs 63. A user places the headband over the headand adjusts the position of welding shield 60, typically raising orlowering the shield using locking knobs 63 to lock the adjustedopposition. In one embodiment of the present invention, shield lens 61may include solar cells 52 mounted thereon and adapted to enablecharging of the lighting system of the welding shield.

Welding shield 60 includes a light emitter 10. Light emitter or lightsource 10 may be a light emitting diode (LED) 10 mounted on the frontarea of welding shield 60. Light source 10 may be physically integratedinto the surface wall of welding shield 60 or it may be treaded thereon,snapped thereon, glued thereon or affixed thereon using some otherattachment method. Light source 10 may be adjustable in one embodimentto output a stronger more focused light beam or a wider less focusedlight beam. Welding shield 60 may be molded of a durable polymermaterial or composite material. Hinges 65 may be frictionally controlledto help secure welding shield lens 61 in an upright position. Lightemitter 10 may be encapsulated in a high strength plastic, compositematerial, or other materials. Light source 10 is mounted on the outerface of welding shield 60 in an area that enables optimum illuminationof a desired workspace area.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of welding shield 60 of FIG. 1 shield lens61 open revealing a second transparent lens. Welding shield 60 includesa second transparent viewing lens 62 that provides protective viewingoption with the darker lens removed or raised. Lenses 61 and 62 may bemanufactured of a resilient and shatter-resistant polymer materialsuitable for safety lens manufacture. In one embodiment lens 62 isremovable from welding shield 60. With welding shield 60 in the loweredposition, light emitter 10 may be powered on automatically to provideillumination for the operator viewing the area through the darkened lensor through the secondary transparent lens 62.

FIG. 3 is a side view of welding shield 60 of FIG. 1 illustrating amanual lighting system control switch with an off setting and an autosetting. Welding shield 60 has an integrated lighting system of whichlight source 10 is part of as described further above. Headband 64 has aheadband light source 20 fixed thereto. Light source 20 may be an LED inone embodiment. In one embodiment, light source 20 has a focusingcapability and can be adjusted to throw a more focused and narrow beamor a wider and less focused beam according to need. In one embodimentlight sources 10 and 20 are directionally adjustable to a degree.

Welding shield 60 may be raised or lowered about pivot positions createdby frictional locking knobs 63 (one illustrated). Headband 64 providesan electrical communication pathway for laying the wire needed forintegrating the two lighting control system available for the weldingshield. Headband 64 may be manufactured from a durable but flexiblepolymer composite or material. A portion of welding shield 60 is removedin this example to permit view of lighting source 20.

Welding shield 60 includes a manual control dial 30 adapted forcontrolling the integrated lighting system of both the welding shieldand the headband. In this example, dial 30 is a rotational dial havingat least four settings that are selectable by an operator. One settingis off, selection thereof causing both lighting source 20 and lightingsource 10 to be powered off. A next setting may be a setting, whichcauses power to be delivered to the welding shield external lightingsource 10.

Welding shield 60 is lowered into a position for welding and darkenedshield lens 61 is closed. In this position it is desirable that lightingsource 10 is powered on. A third setting may cause power to be deliveredto the headband lighting source 20. Lighting source 20 would be poweredon when welding shield 60 is raised to an elevated position thusexposing the headband lighting source to the workspace area. The fourthsetting for rotary dial 30 is automatic or auto. Automatic or autocauses diversion from manual lighting control to automatic lightingcontrol. Auto mode is operated in a preferred embodiment by raising andlowering the welding shield about its pivot points or frictional knobs63. More detail about operating auto mode to alternately illuminate thedescribed lighting sources will be provided later in this specification.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a headband lighting system leveraging amagnetic reed switch 44 for powering on a mounted light source accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. Switch 44 may comprise amagnetically operated switch for powering on headband lighting source 20illustrated on the front portion of headband 64. Locking knobs 63 areillustrated in this example. Lighting source 20 may be adjustable indirection, focus, and power without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention. Light source 20 communicates with switch 44via an electrical wiring 53. In this example, a positional magnet on theinside of welding shield 60 passes over switch 44 when the weldingshield is raised sufficiently causing the headband light 20 to power on.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a headband lighting system leveraging abattery and having a connector to a shield lighting system. Headband 64supports headband lighting source 20. Lighting source 20 is connected toa battery 51 by wiring 53. Battery 51 may be a rechargeable battery thatcan be charged electronically or by solar power. There may be more thanone battery for supplying power to the integrated lighting system of thewelding shield without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

In this example, wiring 53 includes an extendable plug 54 for connectingto the portion of the lighting system that is used to power on lightemitter 10 described previously in this specification. Wiring 53 may bestandard power electrical wiring of a gage suitable for illuminatingemitters 10 and 20. In one embodiment, lighting source 20 fixed toheadband 64 includes LEDs of differing colors like bright white lightand yellow “soft” light.

FIG. 6 is a cable lighting system 70 for retrofit to a welding shieldaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. In one embodimentof the present invention a stock-welding shield is retrofitted with acable lighting system 70. Lighting system 70 includes a connector plug54 analogous to the connector plug of FIG. 5 above. Wiring 53 includeswiring from plug 54 to a mountable manual control dial 30, analogous tocontrol dial 30 of FIG. 3 above. Wiring 53 continues on one path towelding shield light emitter 10 and positional sensor switch 44 forautomatic operation. Wiring 53 continues from dial 30 on another path tosolar cell array 52. The components of FIG. 6 are adapted to be retrofitto a stock welding helmet or shield.

FIG. 7 is a cable lighting system 71 for retrofit to a welding shieldheadband according to an embodiment of the present invention. Lightemitter 20 has connection via wiring 53 to positional sensor 44, whichwould mount to a headband of a welding shield. At the other end of lightemitter 20 is battery 51. Plug 54 enables connection to the other system70. The components of FIG. 7 are adapted to retrofit to a stock weldingshield headband.

FIG. 8 is a side view of welding shield 60 of FIG. 1 adapted with apositional switching system, the shield raised to power on the headbandlight source. Welding shield 60 is illustrated in a raised positionrelative to headband 64 exposing headband light source 20 to illuminatethe workspace. A positional switch or magnetic reed switch 44 fixed toheadband 64 is in alignment beneath one of magnets 42 mounted onpositional sensor 41 that is mounted to the interior surface of thewelding shield. Positional sensor 41 is mounted strategically in thearcurate path of rotation of the shield relative to the positionalswitch 44 mounted on the headband.

In this example, wiring 53 includes a path leading from switch 44 toheadband light source 20 that is activated by switch 44 to power onlighting source 20 when shield 60 is raised as illustrated in thisexample by the direction of the rotational arrows. A second positionalsensor 41 hosting earth or electromagnets 42 is illustrated in brokenboundary indicating a mounted position on the interior surface of shield60. The second positional sensor 41 aligns with positional switch 44when welding shield 60 is lowered.

FIG. 9 is a side view of welding shield 60 of FIG. 1 adapted with apositional switching system, the shield lowered to power on the weldingshield light source. Welding shield 60 is illustrated in a loweredposition relative to headband 64 exposing headband light source 10 toilluminate the workspace. Positional switch 44 fixed to headband 64 isin alignment beneath one of magnets 42 mounted on a positional sensor41, which in turn is mounted to the interior surface of shield 60. Asdescribed above, positional sensor 41 is mounted strategically in theacurate path of rotation of the shield relative to the positional switch44 mounted on the headband.

In this example, wiring 53 includes a path leading from switch 44 towelding shield light source 10 that is activated by switch 44 to poweron lighting source 10 when shield 60 is lowered as illustrated in thisexample by the direction of the rotational arrows. The first-describedpositional sensor 41 and electromagnets or earth magnets 42 isillustrated as fixed to the interior surface of the welding shield in aarcurate rotational path relative to switch 44 on the headband and comesinto alignment with switch 44 when the shield is again raised.

FIG. 10 is a circuitry diagram illustrating a manual lighting controlcircuit 100 with an automatic positional sensing switch setting. Controlcircuit 100 represents one embodiment of the present invention. Dial 30controls the flow of electricity from battery 51 in this example towelding shield light emitter 10. In this case light emitter 10 is an LEDbut in another embodiment another illumination device may be usedinstead.

Alternate control unit or dial 40 may be provided to control the flow ofelectricity from battery 51 to headband light emitter 20. A magnet 45 ismounted on dial 30 and is moved in a rotational path as the dial isphysically turned as illustrated by rotational arrow. Dial 40 includes asimilar magnet 45 a.

When magnets 45 and 45 a are both in the auto position as shown,normally closed (NC) magnetic reed switch 44 c is closed and normallyopen (NO) magnetic reed switches 44 d and 44 a are open, therefore nocurrent flows from battery 51 to light emitter 10 causing light emitter10 to be off. If however, helmet 60 is placed in a lowered position,electro magnet 42 is brought close to magnetic reed switch 44 a causingclosure of the switch resulting in current flowing from battery 51 tolight emitter 10 illuminating the workspace.

Similarly, when both magnets 45 and 45 a are in the auto position asshown NC magnetic reed switch 44 e is closed and NO magnetic reedswitches 44 f and 44 b are open, therefore no current flows from battery51 to light emitter 20 causing light emitter 20 to be off. However, ifthe welding shield is raised to the uppermost position, magnet 42 isbrought close to magnetic reed switch 44 b causing current to flow frombattery 51 to light emitter 20 resulting in illumination of theworkspace.

When control dial 40 is turned is physically turned so that magnet 45 ais in the ON position, magnetic reed switch 44 f is closed enabling flowof current from battery 51 to light emitter 20 resulting in illuminatingthe workspace regardless of whether magnetic reed switch 44 b is open orclosed overriding that circuit causing light emitter 20 to remain onregardless of raising or lowering the helmet. Likewise, when controldial 4 is turned such that the magnet 45 a is in the off position,magnetic reed switch 44 e opens blocking current flow from battery 51 tolight emitter 20 causing light emitter 20 to remain off regardless ofwhether magnetic reed switch 44 b is in the open or closed position.Therefore, light emitter 20 remains off in the manual mode regardless ofwhether the welding shield is raised or lowered.

In general use of the welding shield lighting system of the presentinvention, an operator may don the welding shield adjusting the headbandfor good fit. In manual mode a user may select from manual settings OFF,Welding Shield Light ON, Headband Light ON, or AUTO. Selecting AUTOcause the system to defer to automatic mode wherein alternate lightemitters are powered on based on welding shield position.

The “automatic” setting uses a positional sensor to control the lightemitters. The user may select the desired light emitter by positioningthe welding shield in relation to the headband. If the welding shield isin the lowered position, then the helmet light emitter 10 is powered on.If the welding shield is in the raised position, then the headband lightemitter 20 is powered on. Each light emitter turns off when thealternate light emitter is activated.

In the solar cell-enabled charging system, the battery power supply ischarged through the use solar of cells 52, converting energy from theultraviolet light emission of the welding activity or sunlight intoelectrical power. Electrical power is communicated by way of powercable/wire 53 and electrical connectors or plugs 54 Supplemental,charging may be allowed for by plugging into an external power sourcebetween uses.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that the welding shieldand lighting control system of the invention may be provided using someor all of the mentioned features and components without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. It will also be apparentto the skilled artisan that the embodiments described above are specificexamples of a single broader invention, which may have greater scopethan any of the singular descriptions taught. There may be manyalterations made in the descriptions without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A lighting system retrofitted to a stock helmetwith an interiorly fastened headband and a welding shield rotablymounted thereto comprising: a first light source mounted on an exteriorsurface of the welding shield, the welding shield adjustable topositions above and below the headband; a second light source mounted tothe headband; a power source; a magnetic positional switching facilitymounted on the exterior of the headband having electrical connection tothe power source and the first and second light sources; a firstpositional sensor; and a second positional sensor, the first and secondpositional sensors mounted on the interior surface of the welding shieldalong an arcurate path defining the angular range of rotation of thewelding shield relative to the magnetic positional switching facility;wherein the act of rotating the welding shield enables the firstlighting source to power on via eventual alignment with the firstpositional sensor and the magnetic positional switching facility whenthe shield is in a lowered position and the second lighting source topower on via eventual alignment with the second positional sensor andthe magnetic positional switching facility when the shield is in araised position.
 2. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the weldingshield further comprises a welding shield lens and the first lightingsource is mounted adjacent to the lens.
 3. The lighting system of claim1, wherein the first and or second light sources are detachable fromtheir bases for use as hand-held or other device-mounted light sources.4. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the first and second lightsources are high-powered light emitting diodes (LEDs).
 5. The lightingsystem of claim 1, wherein the first and second light sources and thetwo positional sensors are removably attached to the stock weldingshield.
 6. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein the power source is asolar-powered charging system for charging a battery or batteries topower the light sources.
 7. The lighting system of claim 1, wherein thelight sources are different in both color and or intensity.
 8. Thelighting system of claim 7, wherein the first light source is a brightwhite light and the second light source is a softer yellow light.